DOHA: Qatar International Food Festival (QIFF) has hosted live cooking presentations by Qatari culinary experts to ensure wide participation of local communities.

QIFF organisers have incorporated live cooking presentations by Qatari vegan food guru Ghanem Al Sulaiti alongside the treasure of the Qatari kitchen Umm Issa who after decades of professional cooking lends her cooking talents to Ihsan (Qatar Foundation for the Elderly) where she is resident.

Al Sulaiti owner of the up and coming Evergreen Organics café told Live Cooking Theatre audiences: “I’m passionate about healthy eating and having a plant-based diet. Using organic food and locally produced greens makes your body react more positively and that’s something I want to raise awareness about through QIFF.”

Issa treated her audience to deep fried khanfaroosh and kebabs traditional food she says are going out of fashion because “everyone these days is on a diet.”

Whether local or international the chefs’ expertise is available to schoolchildren from across Qatar through extended opening hours dedicated to visits from schools.

Last morning was set aside for students from Shafallah Centre for Children with Special Needs enabling them to enjoy the festival’s offering and interact with the cooks at their leisure.

“The festival is an important part of developing Qatar’s tourism offering and we wanted to make sure the community played a big part in it to ensure it was reflective of Qatar’s culture and traditions” said Fatma Al Sayed Coordinator Festivals and Tourism Events Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA).

“In the lead-up to this year’s edition we also took the festival to schools having partnered with the Ministry of Education Your Health First and Qatar Culinary Professionals to deliver a healthy food and nutrition awareness programme to 30 schools.”

Salam Al Shawa Senior Vice- President Marketing and Corporate Communications Qatar Airways (QA) said: “We’re so pleased that residents from Qatar and visitors from around the world were able to join us at the festival.

“We hope they enjoyed their time exploring the extensive range of activities on offer in Doha and learnt some tasty tips from our talented regional chefs.

“The children from Shafallah Centre received a warm welcome on board QA’s ‘A Taste of Business Class’ Dinner in the Sky experience where they had fun making memories with each other and our award-winning cabin crew.”

SahtakAwalan; Your Health First is an initiative developed in partnership between the Ministry of Public Health and Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar that uses media digital and grassroots campaigns to make information about healthy lifestyles and preventive measures easily accessible to the local community.

The initiative has a stand at the Health Court alongside Kulluna an initiative by the Ministry of Public Health and ConocoPhilips that helps visitors with the early detection of conditions such as high-cholesterol high blood pressure and diabetes.

The festival concludes today at Museum of Islamic Art Park Katara Cultural Village and the Pearl-Qatar.The Peninsula